Telescoping rod antenna with hinged joint at a medial section

ABSTRACT

An antenna system including at least one set of telescoping tubes with two adjacent tubes of a set being hinged together to permit a portion of the tubes to assume a horizontal, as well as a vertical, position. The tubes, including the hinge assembly, are all retractable into the tube of largest diameter.

United States Patent [72] lnventors SantoM.Antista [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS Clifton;

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1,077,732 3/1960 1,094,319 12/1960 Germany...... 221,590 6/1962Austria......................... Primary Examiner-Eli LiebermanAdronics, c. Verona, NJ.

GED

Attorney-Lane, Aitken, Dunner and Ziems [54] TELESCOPING ROD ANTENNAWITH HIN JOINT AT A MEDIAL SECTION 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

.. 343/702, ABSTRACT: An antenna system including at least one set of343/805, 343/901 telescoping tubes with two adjacent tubes of a setbeing hinged [51] Int. together to permit a portion ofthe tubes toassume a horizontal, as well as a vertical, position. The tubes,including the [50] 343/702, hinge assembly, are all retractable into thetube of largest 805, 901; 343/723, 823, 889, 900, 903 diameter.

Field of Search.......

Patented l\/lay 18, 1971 3,579,241

2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS SAN TO M ANT/STA GERARD L. BURGGRAF Lmvs.HIT/(EM, OUIVIVEK+ZIEMS ATTORNEYS BY MILTON M. KOPTULA 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTORS SANTO M. ANT/STA GERARD L. BURGGRAF BY MILTON M KOPTULA AHA/E,HIT/ EN, OUN/VERd-Z/EMS ATTORNEYS 'IEIJIESCOIPING MUD ANTENNA WI'IIIIIINGED JOINT AT A MEDIAL SECTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to an antenna system, and, more particularly, to atelescoping antenna system which can be used for both UHF and VHFtelevision reception.

Television receivers which are capable of receiving both very highfrequency (VHF) programs and ultra high frequency (UHF) programs arewell known. In the past it has been generally common to provide twoseparate antenna systems for each of these frequencies. In the use ofportable receivers, that is, receivers that are commonly moved aboutthus negating the use of an outdoor roof antenna, a pair of telescopingantennas have been mounted to the receiver for VHF reception, whichantennas, in use, are normally extended to their maximum verticalpositions to receive the VHF broadcast. However, a separate antenna forUHF reception, usually in the form of a loop or the like, is normallyprovided in addition to the VHF antenna. Of course, these separateantennas are relatively expensive to manufacture and detract from theportability of the receivers since they require two separate lead inassemblies and corresponding terminals on the receiver, and addundesirable bulk and weight.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide a single antenna system for a television receiverwhich is capable of providing'optimum reception of both VHF and UHFbroadcasts, and which retains the flexibility of separate systems.

Briefly summarized, the antenna system of the present inventioncomprises at least one set of telescoping tubes, a first hinge memberconnected to the inner tube of two adjacent tubes of a set, and a secondhinge member connected to the outer tube of said two adjacent tubes,said hinge members being pivotably connected to permit relative pivotalmovement between said inner tube and said outer tube, and said hingemembers and said inner tube being retractable within said outer tube.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference is now made to theaccompanying drawings for a better understanding of the nature andobjects of the antenna system of the nature and objects of the antennasystem of the present invention, which drawings illustrate the best modepresently contemplated for carrying out the objects of the invention andits principles, and are not to be construed as restrictions orlimitations on its scope. In the drawings:

FIG. I is a vertical cross-sectional view showing two adjacent tubes ofthe antenna system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. ll;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG.)1;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but showing the inner tube in ahorizontal position; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view, showing the antenna system of the presentinvention mounted on a housing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring specifically to FIGS.I3 of the drawings, there is shown a pair of adjacent tubes fonning aportion of the antenna system of the present invention, it beingunderstood that these tubes may be a part of an entire telescopingassembly, as will be explained in detail later. Specifically, an innertube is provided which is slidably mounted with respect to an outer tubeI2, the inner tube being shown in its fully extended position. Bothtubes have a portion of reduced diameter near their upper ends, thisportion of the tube 12 being shown at I2a in FIG. ll.

An upper hinge member I4 is fixed within one end of the tube I0, and acooperating lower hinge member 16 is fixed within the adjacent end ofthe tube 12. The upper hinge member 14 includes a cylindrical portion 18which has a circular notch 20 formed in the outer periphery thereof. Acorresponding portion of the tube I0 is staked or crimped into the notchas shown at 22 to fix the tube 10 with respect to the upper hinge 14member. A tab 24 extends from the cylindrical portion I8 of the upperhinge member 14, and cooperates with the lower hinge member 16 in amanner that will be described in detail later.

The lower hinge member I6 is of a generally cylindrical shape and has aflange 26 adapted to engage the shoulder portion of the tube 12 torestrain the lower hinge member from further outward movement withrespect to the tube. A shim 28, better shown in FIG. 3, extends aroundthe lower hinge member I6 and engages the inner wall of the tube I2 toprovide a bearing for the hinge member with respect to the tube and toprovide a slight resistance to slidable and rotative movement of thehinge member with respect to the tube 12. A tab 30 is formed on the shim28, and extends through a notch 32 formed in the lower hinge member, andinto a bore 34 formed through the lower hinge member and extendingaxially for the length thereof. A flange 36 is provided on the bottomportion of the lower hinge member I6 to aid in centering the hingemember inside the tube 12 and to relieve the bearing load on the shim28.

A spring 38 is disposed in the bore 34 of the lower hinge member I6, andhas one end abutting the tab 30 of the shim 28. A cylindrical slug 40 isalso disposed in the bore 34 and engages the other end of the spring 38,the spring being of a size to normally urge the slug outwardly throughthe top of the lower hinge member.

The upper portion of the lower hinge member 16 is in the form of aclevis 42 which receives the tab 24 of the upper hinge member 14. A pin44 extends through holes formed in the clevis 42 and the tab 24, and isriveted or staked in any known manner to the clevis to provide a pivotalmovement between the upper hinge member I4 and the lower hinge memberI6, and therefore between the inner tube 10 and the outer tube I2.

The tab 24 of the upper hinge member I4 is provided with a flat surface240 which engages the flat upper surface of the slug 40 in the verticalposition of the tube 10, as shown in FIG. I, so that the tube It) isretained or held in this position. Similarly, the tab 24 is providedwith flat surfaces 24b and 24c which are perpendicular to the surface24a and which permit the tube 10 to be held in a horizontal position toeither side of the vertical position of FIG. I. These horizontalpositions of the tube I0 are shown by the solid and dotted lines in FIG.4, with surface 240 engaging the slug 40 in the former position and thesurface 24b engaging the slug in the latter position. Of course, thetube I0 is easily moved from these vertical and horizontal positions bysimply manually overcoming the added resistance provided by the engagingflat surfaces.

It is understood that the outer tube I2 can in turn be mounted into oneor more tubes of a larger diameter, and that one or more tubes of asmaller diameter can be mounted in the tube I0. In these cases each tubecan be prevented from extending completely out from, or retractingcompletely in to, its adjacent tube, and can be slightly restrained fromslidable or rotative movement by any known means, such as that shown inconnection with the tube I2.

FIG. 5 depicts the complete antenna system of the present inventionmounted on a housing 50 which may be in the form of a televisionreceiver cabinet, or the like. Since the system shown consists of twotelescoping antennas of identical structure, only the right hand one asdepicted in FIG. 5 will be described in detail. Particularly, an outertube 52 is slidably mounted within a hollow ball 54 which in turn ismounted with respect to the housing. It is understood that thesemountings are achieved in a known manner, and are such as to permit thetube 52 to be retained at any desired height with respect to the ball54, and to permit the ball to swivel with respect to the housing 50. Apair of beads 56 and 58 are provided on the tube 52 and are spaced apartto facilitate gripping of the tube for extending the remaining tubes.

The tube 12 extends, along with any number of other tubes as desired,within the tube 52 and is completely retracted in the position of FIG.5. The clevis 42 associated with the lower hinge member permits pivotalmovement of the tube to a horizontal position shown, One or moreadditional tubes may be disposed in the tube 10, and an additional innerrod 60 is provided which has a cap 62 fixed to the end thereof. Sincethe inner rod 10 as well as the upper and lower hinge assemblies arerotatable with respect to the outer rod 12, the horizontally extendingportion of the antenna, as shown in FlG. 5 can be rotated into anyposition within a complete 360 range. As emphasized above, an antennashown by the reference numeral 70 is provided adjacent the antenna justdescribed and is identical in structure and operation to the latter.

In operation, and assuming UHF reception is desired, the antennas arecollapsed and pivoted into a position shown generally in FIG. 5.Although it has been determined that optimum reception is normallyobtained when the horizontal portions of the antennas extend in astraight line, the horizontal portion of the antenna 70 is shown offsetslightly in FIG. 5 to emphasize the various positions the antennas cantake, and to better show the particular structure involved. Of coursethe horizontal portion of either assembly can be expanded or collapsedas desired to obtain optimum reception.

The antennas are positioned for VHF reception by simply expanding all ofthe tubes, including the inner rod, to a generally vertical position,and by adjusting their height and relative position for optimumreception.

It is understood that two sets of lead in wires will be provided whichmay be within the same harness and which may be separately connected tothe separate UHF and VHF receiving systems internally of the set. As analternate, one set of wires may be used in conjunction with a crossovercircuit disposed within the receiver housing.

lt is thus seen that the antenna system of the present inventioneliminates the need for separate VHF and UHF antennas and is thereforeless expensive to manufacture and does not detract from the portabilityof the receiver, while retaining the flexibility of separate antennas.

It is understood that the above-described antenna system is notnecessarily limited to the use of two telescoping assemblies fortelevision reception, and that variations of the specific constructionand arrangement disclosed above can be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An antenna system comprising a plurality of telescoping tubesretractable one within the other with all of said tubes beingretractable within the tube having the largest diameter; a first hingemember connected to one of two adjacent tubes; and a second hinge memberconnected to the other of said adjacent tubes; said hinge members beingpivotally connected to permit relative pivotal movement between saidadjacent tubes; said first hinge member being formed with a bore andincluding a cylindrical slug disposed in said bore, said slug having afiat surface, and resilient means urging said slug outwardly towardssaid first hinge member; said second hinge member having at least twoflat portions formed thereon, said flat portions adapted to engage saidflat surface of said slug to hold the inner of said two adjacent tubesin at least two positions relative to the outer of said two adjacenttubes, said hinge members and said inner tube being retractable intosaid outer tube.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said inner tube is held in a positioncoaxially aligned with said outer tube and in a position angularlydisposed relative to said outer tube.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said first hinge member has a pair ofarms on either side of said bore lprojecting toward said second hingemember, and said second Inge member has a projecting portion projectingbetween and pivotally connected to said arms, said two flat portionsbeing fonned on said projecting portion.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising means to mount said outertube in a generally perpendicular direction with respect to a housing.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said tubes include at least oneadditional tube connected to and retractable within said inner tube toenable the length of the tubes beyond said hinge members to be adjustedwhen said inner tube is coaxially aligned with and angularly disposedrelative to said outer tube.

1. An antenna system comprising a plurality of telescoping tubesretractable one within the other with all of said tubes beingretractable within the tube having the largest diameter; a first hingemember connected to One of two adjacent tubes; and a second hinge memberconnected to the other of said adjacent tubes; said hinge members beingpivotally connected to permit relative pivotal movement between saidadjacent tubes; said first hinge member being formed with a bore andincluding a cylindrical slug disposed in said bore, said slug having aflat surface, and resilient means urging said slug outwardly towardssaid first hinge member; said second hinge member having at least twoflat portions formed thereon, said flat portions adapted to engage saidflat surface of said slug to hold the inner of said two adjacent tubesin at least two positions relative to the outer of said two adjacenttubes, said hinge members and said inner tube being retractable intosaid outer tube.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein said inner tube isheld in a position coaxially aligned with said outer tube and in aposition angularly disposed relative to said outer tube.
 3. The systemof claim 2 wherein said first hinge member has a pair of arms on eitherside of said bore projecting toward said second hinge member, and saidsecond hinge member has a projecting portion projecting between andpivotally connected to said arms, said two flat portions being formed onsaid projecting portion.
 4. The system of claim 1 further comprisingmeans to mount said outer tube in a generally perpendicular directionwith respect to a housing.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein said tubesinclude at least one additional tube connected to and retractable withinsaid inner tube to enable the length of the tubes beyond said hingemembers to be adjusted when said inner tube is coaxially aligned withand angularly disposed relative to said outer tube.